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In his first meeting with reporters in nearly a month, Gov. Deval Patrick said Wednesday he would meet with lawmakers and business leaders next week to discuss concerns raised about a recently-imposed sales tax on computer and software services.

But Patrick also indicated that the tax, part of a transportation funding plan, would have to be replaced with other new revenue if it was repealed or scaled back.

Patrick spoke at the Old South Meeting House in Boston prior to a bell-ringing ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech in Washington.

The governor said he remained fully engaged in state affairs during his vacation, making phone calls and meeting with administration officials.

"I've been doing that every day, just in a different setting," said Patrick, who is not seeking re-election to a third term and will leave office after 2014.

During his absence from the Statehouse, business groups and Republican lawmakers stepped up demands for repeal of the 6.25 percent tax on computer and software services that took effect July 31.

Critics have derided the measure as an "innovation tax" that will hurt the state's highly-touted technology sector and cost jobs. They also say the tax is vague and confusing.

Patrick said he was "concerned but not alarmed" by the criticism and noted that efforts by the state's Revenue Department to limit the scope of the tax have allayed the fears of some critics. But he added that he was worried the tax could damage Massachusetts' image as a welcoming state for tech companies because it "projects something that was not intended by the Legislature."

"It's also clear that we need funding for transportation and if there is a fix we have to have the whole conversation, which is what do we replace it with," the governor added.

The tax is estimated to generate $161 million in the current fiscal year.

Patrick also said Wednesday he had spoken to Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin and hoped to provide help to Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant workers who live in Massachusetts line up new jobs after Entergy Corp. shuts down the facility at the end of next year. Patrick also called for a discussion of whether the Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Plymouth, also owned by Entergy, should meet the same fate as Vermont Yankee.

"It's not clear to me that we need Pilgrim to meet all of our electricity needs," he said.

Patrick also said a decision by the state Ethics Commission that could force Democratic state Sen. Dan Wolf, D-Harwich, to end his campaign for governor and resign from the Senate seemed "technically right," though "practically odd." The commission has said that Wolf, a political supporter of Patrick, would be violating state conflict of interest laws if he did not give up his 23 percent ownership stake in Cape Air.

Patrick said he hoped Wolf could continue his gubernatorial campaign but that it would be up to the commission, which has agreed to discuss the matter at its Sept. 19 meeting.

The governor spent most of his time away from the Statehouse at his vacation home in the Berkshires, though he also dined with President Barack Obama on Martha's Vineyard during the first family's recent island vacation.

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